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CNET Editors' Rating

The GoodThe Samsung Seek has an appealing design with a touch screen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. A subscription-based navigation app and multimedia features are a plus.

The BadIts small touch screen is a little cramped and its slow connection speeds make Web browsing ponderous.

The Bottom LineThe Samsung Seek's multimedia features make it a decent middle-of-the-road messaging phone, but an attractive monthly prepaid price tag and a new design for Boost Mobile earn it bonus points.

7.0 Overall

Design7.0

Features7.0

Performance7.0

Review Sections

Having debuted on the Sprint network, the Samsung Seek is not a brand-new model, but its pairing of a touch screen with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard is a first for Boost Mobile. Samsung knows a thing or two about churning out midlevel messaging phones, and the Seek is definitely a compact, attractive little number.

With the exception of pricing, performance, and some of the preloaded apps, Boost Mobile's Seek is nearly identical to Sprint's version. We'll concentrate on those differences in this review, but for more details, consult our full review of the Samsung Seek for Sprint. You can pick up a Samsung Seek for $149.99 with Boost Mobile for a $50-per-month Unlimited Plan, and without an annual contract.

Design
We continue to like the Samsung Seek's compact, lightweight design; 4.1 inches long by 2.1 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick and 3.9 ounces. With rounded corners and a smooth matte back, the Seek fits well in the hand and is comfortable on the ear. Its glossy 2.6-inch touch-screen QVGA face supports 262,000 colors at a 240x320-pixel resolution. The Seek's display is smaller than we'd like for surfing the Web and composing e-mail, but it is bright and colorful.

Three hardware buttons below the screen represent Back, Home, and Call. Samsung divides the Seek's touch-screen menu into four screens for Favorites, Main, Fun, and the Web. As the Seek uses a resistive touch screen instead of a capacitive screen, you'll need to apply a bit more pressure when tapping icons on the display. While there is a little lag, overall it is not too bad.

On the right spine are a dedicated camera button, a Micro-USB charger port, and the power/lock button. On top sits a 3.5-millimeter headset jack, and on the left there's a volume rocker and a microSD slot that supports card capacities up to 32GB. On the back of the phone is a 1.3-megapixel camera. The phone face slides to reveal a QWERTY keyboard with slightly raised keys for easier typing. There are four directional buttons and a shortcut button for adding emoticons.

FeaturesEditors' note: Since features on the Samsung Seek are very similar for the Sprint and Boost Mobile versions, we'll only summarize them in this review. For full details, consult our review of the Samsung Seek for Sprint.

Jessica Dolcourt reviews smartphones and cell phones, covers handset news, and pens the monthly column Smartphones Unlocked. A senior editor, she started at CNET in 2006 and spent four years reviewing mobile and desktop software before taking on devices.
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